Gemotions

The attic air hung thick with dust motes dancing in the lone sunbeam. Clara sifted through a trunk of forgotten memories, her fingers brushing against brittle paper. A cream-colored envelope, addressed in her young, looping script, surfaced. It was her handwriting, no question, but the name, scrawled across the front, was… "Mom." A wave of something unexpected, a sudden warmth in her chest, spread.

She delicately unfolded the letter. The words flowed from the page, a cascade of youthful defiance against the world. She remembered the fight, the slammed door, the feeling of being utterly right in the face of disapproval. The anger still simmered, a faint heat under her skin. She'd been prepared to take on the entire world, if that’s what it took.

Her mother’s soft voice echoed in her head, and in that moment, Clara decided to finally send the words that had been locked away for so long. She would deliver them.